


Fear and Laughter

by KadiRose0101



Series: The Killer's Daughter [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:40:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27368218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KadiRose0101/pseuds/KadiRose0101
Relationships: Fred Weasley/George Weasley, Fred Weasley/George Weasley/Reader
Series: The Killer's Daughter [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1997173
Kudos: 9





	Fear and Laughter

"Within tears, find hidden laughter. Seek treasures amid ruins, sincere one."  
\- Rumi

4\. Fear and Laughter

Learning how to become an animagus turned out to be quite a strange, dangerous, and daunting process. There were so many things to learn about the process, the potions, the meditation, and the transformation that it gave her a headache sometimes. Euphemia didn't quite know how to take in all the information other than to do it in small portions. The book was written in cryptic old English that was sometimes very hard to decipher.

As she read through the textbook more and the notes in the notebook, she found that she would have to use a mandrake leaf and keep it in her mouth for an entire month from full moon to the next full moon. It almost hurt to hear that it would take that long, but she knew it would be worth it in the end. Although McGonagall trusted that Euphemia wouldn't use it for the wrong purposes, she figured that the professor had known she would eventually use it to help her uncle.

She had read in a textbook somewhere that while a werewolf would kill a human, it would harm an animal if it got close enough. She figured that if she were an animagus she could stay nearby and calm him to lessen the injuries that would occur when the wolf came through. Dumbledore had promised that Remus would have a supply of wolfsbane potion to use while he was teaching at Hogwarts, but if he missed the potion for just one day, the efforts would have been useless. If he ever forgot to use the potion, she could be there to help keep the wolf at bay.

Later that week, she had gone back to Professor McGonagall's office for some more advice and to ask where she could find mandrake leaves. Conveniently, Professor Sprout currently had a few mandrakes in the greenhouses and said she could grab one from there. Once she had kept the mandrake leaf in her mouth for that month it would be used for the animagus potion. Once she had gotten it, she saved it until the next full moon and placed it in her mouth. The leaf did a strange thing of almost suctioning to the top of her mouth. She gagged a little bit at the sensation because it felt quite strange, but tried to get used to it.

On this Wednesday, she had skipped lunch and had gone off to McGonagall's office instead to go over the next step of the process. She was halfway through the month and she had grown used to the mandrake leaf sitting in her mouth by now. She had been pretty good about hiding the process from her friends, wanting to keep it as secret as possible. She wanted to share with her friends what she had been spending all of her time on since she had skipped out on hanging out and sitting with them at lunch.

She could tell that a few of them were getting suspicious, but she didn't want to share her secret quite yet. In this time, she had also registered with the ministry that she was currently learning about becoming an animagus and making the first step to making the meditation potion. Dumbledore was quite shocked when McGonagall had asked to floo with Euphemia to the ministry on a weekend but had allowed it as he agreed with his best professor's opinion.

The meditation potion would be made so she could figure out what her animal would be that she would transform into. It would take a lot of concentration, but it was a necessary step in the process so that you could imagine what your animagus form would be. The second potion would be the one to take during an electrical storm so that you can transform into your animagus form. They were some of the most complicated potions that she had seen in her time at Hogwarts. Even McGonagall said that they were insanely difficult.

They were just finishing up with the lesson and going over the final steps of the process. The textbook had helped and the notebook full of notes had given her ideas of what the transformation would be like. From the notes that had been made, the transformation would be extremely painful, and depending on the animal, it could be even more dangerous. The night of the transformation, your human side will retreat into the back and the animal will take over. After that first transformation, the witch or wizard would have control. This made Euphemia's stomach churn when she thought about the pain she would be in.

McGonagall spoke to her about the steps in between the meditation stage and the actual transformation. "After the meditation phase, you need to recite that incantation when you wake up and before you go to bed every day until the transformation." Euphemia nodded in finality and stored it on her mental to-do list. She handed the teenager a note for her next class in case she was late.

"Thank you, Professor," she said and then left her office. She pulled out her wand and looked at her hand, casting a quick Tempus charm. It was already one-thirty and she was very much late for class. She grabbed her bag more securely and started booking it through the halls and up the staircases. Just as she was rushing around a corner, she crashed into somebody. The person grabbed her by the shoulders to keep her from falling over.

She looked up and saw George and she began blushing, her hair turning light pink. "S-sorry, George." His hands were nice and warm on her arms and she wanted to lean into the touch more. She was always constantly cold and he was like a roaring fire. She realized that this was probably a weird situation and stepped backward to step out of his embrace.

"S'alright, Effie," he gave her a kind smile. "At least it wasn't Peeves trying to trip you up," he chuckled and she smiled. She wished she had been given a more subtle gift than being a metamorphmagus. She couldn't always control her hair changing color when her emotions were strong and right now they were soaring. It wasn't exactly great for trying to keep your crush hidden from the one you were crushing on, especially when your hair always turned the same color whenever you were around them.

George had become an expert Euphemia-watcher over the past couple of weeks. He had noticed the differences whenever Euphemia was around him. He noticed every small change in her body language whenever he was around, the way her hair almost always changed to light pink, and the way her pale, icy looking skin would flare with pink in her cheeks. He even noticed the way she melted in his touch whenever he made contact with her. She always felt cold, but he didn't mind it.

When she stepped out of his hold, he was the one blushing. "I'll let you get where you were going, you looked like you were in a hurry." She nodded, the pink flush still in her cheeks. She started to walk away when he called after her.

"Hey, Effie," he shouted. She whipped around and he smiled at her.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"You should keep your hair that light pink, it suits you," he winked and then turned around. Her hair turned a bright fuchsia, the emotion filling her completely. She stood there for a moment frozen in shock and then sighed contentedly.

She snapped out of her trance and remembered her original goal. She ran through the halls and made it through the door just as it was closing. Everyone was already lined along the walls for today's exciting lesson. The desks were stacked against a free wall and the rest of the floor was open. She tried to tiptoe in quietly and blend in with the bunched up group of students, but her uncle had heard her enter.

"Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Ms. Black," Lupin spoke and everyone turned around and looked at her. She froze like a deer in the headlights. Remus turned around and smirked. Euphemia smiled and laughed nervously.

"Hi." She waved shyly.

"Do you have a note?" She walked to the front of the classroom and handed him the note. "Very well, set down your bag." She turned around and headed back to her original spot in the crowd after setting her bag down near everyone else's.

Since the tables were shoved against the walls and out of the way, the floor was empty except for a large wardrobe that stood towards the front of the classroom. In front of the wardrobe was a large white circle drawn onto the floor with strange symbols and then a small circle inside the larger circle. She recognized the strange symbols as ancient runes that were used specifically for containment.

Euphemia heard a confused, "What the hell?" She looked over to see a weirded-out Parvati. She smirked knowingly because today was a boggart lesson. She hated the things with a passion, but she loved watching her friend look confused for once, not knowing what was going on. The girl always had to know about everything.

"Hello, class." Lupin greeted kindly as a formal start to the class.

"Hello, Professor Lupin." The whole class talked back and she moved towards the side with the rest of her friends. He walked down the stairs from his office and stood in front of the class.

"Mr. Finnigan, would you like to take a guess at what we will be studying today?" He asked.

Seamus looked shocked that he was called. "That's a boggart, that is." He stated, rather sure of himself.

"You would be correct. Now, does anyone know what a boggart is?" He questioned just in general.

A girl's voice sounded from the back of the classroom. "No one knows." She looked over to see Hermione, of course. Hermione was the only one from the golden trio who had befriended her. Probably because they were sharing a dormitory together and maybe because Hermione genuinely thought that Euphemia was a good person. She would hope she had proven that over the past two years.

Hermione continued. "Boggarts are shape-shifters. They take the shape of whatever a particular person fears most. That's what makes it so --"

Remus finished. "Terrifying, yes. Luckily, a very simple charm exists to repel a Boggart. Let's practice it now, shall we?" People began to pull out their wands. "Without wands everybody." They all looked shocked. "Repeat after me... Riddikulus!"

Everyone repeated, "Riddikulus!"

Draco, of course, had to make his snarky remark of the day. "This class is ridiculous." He whispered.

Euphemia wanted to kick Draco in the leg to get him to shut up. "I swear to Merlin, Draco. One more comment and I'll slip a Weasley potion into your drink at dinner." His eyes widened in fright and he went back to watching Professor Lupin.

"Good, everybody." Remus went on to explain that the only way how to finish a boggart is to be able to laugh, a true laugh. The person casting the spell has to come up with something funny to get it to change and make it enjoyable.

Remus picked Neville to come to the front of the classroom. "Mr. Longbottom, what do you fear the most?" Neville was a rather shy kid and when he admitted what he was afraid of, almost inaudible. "Didn't catch that, Neville, sorry."

"Professor Snape." The whole class laughed a little. No one could blame him though. Snape could be scary at the worst of times, but he could also be sentimental when absolutely necessary, but that depended mostly on if he favored you or not. However, Snape was always quite the bully to Neville.

"Hmm... yes. You're not wrong about that." He paused in thought. "Now, I believe you live with your grandmother?" Neville nodded.

"Well yeah, but I don't want the boggart to turn into her either." Remus laughed.

"It won't," He leaned forward and whispered something into Neville's ear. He smiled.

The professor unlocked the wardrobe and out stepped Snape in his regular dark robes. Neville backed up in fear. "It's okay, Neville. Just say the incantation."

"Riddikulus!" He cast. Snape seemed to be turned in a circle several times by wind and when he reappeared he was wearing a dark green velvet skirt suit and a wonky hat that had a dead ferret on it. The entire class burst into fits of laughter, seeing the once scary-looking potions master now looking as if he had gotten a skirt-suit from Madame Malkin's.

Remus shouted. "Okay, everyone, form a line." Everyone rushed into line and Euphemia got stuck right behind Ron Weasley. Draco ran to the back of the line with Pansy and Blaise and Parvati had stuck herself at the front of the line, most likely to just get it over and done with. She ran her hand over her face. Parvati went first and she had a huge snake. Once she cast the spell which turned into a jack-in-the-box clown, which she thought was even more terrifying, but if that's what works.

Ron stepped forward and the clown turned into a large spider five times the size of him. Euphemia heard him whimper like a scared child. The spider, however, was roughly the size of half the classroom, so he had a right to be. He cast the spell and soon the spider had roller skates on all eight legs and it was clambering all over the place, trying to stand up. She laughed at this one.

"Very good, Ron." He then walked to the back and it was her turn to go. 

Euphemia was nervous as all hell. She stood there for a second and then the clambering spider turned into... It turned into... her. She stumbled back. Tears quickly filled her eyes and she tried to blink them away, not wanting anyone to see the weakness.

She flourished her wand. "Riddikulus!" It swept around and then the other 'Euphemia' turned into a simple porcelain doll and it fell to the ground. Remus noticed the expression on her face and he nodded towards the back of the classroom.

She slid down against the back wall and tried to focus on not letting her hair change color. She didn't want anyone to see that the Black family insanity was in her. She tried so hard to be anything but a Black. She wasn't ashamed of her father, she could never be. But she was ashamed of the rest of the Black family, as they were cruel, dark, and horrendous people. The Black family insanity was something they were known by and she didn't want people to think she had it.

Harry had gone next with his boggart being a dementor. Euphemia was shocked it hadn't been Lord Voldemort himself. The dark wizard had tried to kill Harry twice now and apparently, a dementor is what scared the golden boy more. Lupin jumped in front of Harry and it turned into a moon. Quickly, Lupin shouted the incantation and it turned a balloon flying around the room.

"Alright, everyone. The class is dismissed for the day!" Everyone walked out of the room, including Harry. Euphemia took a few moments to stand without toppling over. She leaned against the wall for support until her head stopped spinning. Her hair had turned to the dark blue it often turned when the fear, anxiety... insanity crept toward the front. Lupin walked over to her with a very concerned face. "Are you okay?" She nodded slightly. "After today, I don't think we'll be going back to boggarts."

"Okay, I have to go." She began to turn and walk out of the room. He grabbed her arm.

"Euphemia," she hated when he used her full name. She turned and looked at him. "You know you can talk to me right?" He asked.

"I know." He let go of her arm and she turned back around and walked out of the classroom. Euphemia saw George standing outside, picking at his nails. He looked up at her as she walked out of the classroom. George's eyes immediately filled with concern as he noticed the change in color. He stepped towards her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"George, what're you doing here?" She asked in confusion.

He chuckled. "My little brother said that there was an unexpected happening in class. I rushed over as soon as I heard." She blushed, but her hair didn't turn the light pink.

"Why would you care?" She questioned in response.

"I, uh, was worried," he spoke and now he was the one blushing. It took her mind off of the event a couple of minutes ago, but it came flooding back just as soon as it had gone. She bent her head and looked down at the floor.

George crouched to look into her eyes from below. "Euphemia, what's wrong?" He asked.

"Can we go somewhere private, please?" She replied softly. George nodded instantly and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. The two walked together down the hallways until they reached the top of the astronomy tower. She leaned over the railing looking at the ground far below. They stood there in silence for a few moments.

George spoke up after a few minutes. "What spooked you so much?" He asked.

She sighed. "We were studying boggarts today. It shouldn't have scared me so much, but my boggart is probably what you would call unusual." She trailed off and picked at her nails again.

"What was your boggart?" He pushed further and leaned on the railing next to her.

"Myself," she said and fell silent.

"Why would you be afraid of yourself?" He grabbed her hand.

"I'm afraid of myself and what I'm not. I'm afraid I'll turn out to be something horrible. Not because of my dad, I know he's a good man, but I'm afraid I could actually be something evil. I'm afraid I'll turn out like my Aunt Bellatrix. Everyone always says that the family of Black is prone to insanity," she spoke with her voice breaking towards the end. A tear fell down her face and she tried to hold a blank face. George saw through it though and pulled her closer in a hug. George wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. Euphemia hugged him back and clung to him, crying softly.

"It's okay, Effie," George spoke softly into her ear. "You're a good person. You're not like one of them and you won't turn into one of them." Euphemia nodded and pulled back and looked George in the eye.

"You really think so?" Euphemia asked.

George smiled lightly. "Of course, Effie." She smiled and pecked him on the cheek.

"Thanks, George. I really needed to hear that." Euphemia looked at the clock on the wall. "We should get to dinner before people start wondering where we are." George nodded and they walked down the staircases of the astronomy tower back into the warm hallways of the school. They walked down the many winding staircases until they made it to the great hall. Parvati was already seated at the table and Ginny was just walking in. George sat down next to Fred and Euphemia took a seat next to George. Fred gave him a knowing look and George elbowed him in the side. She chuckled at their foolishness.

"What were you two up to for the last hour?" Parvati asked.

"I was talking with George," she said.

"About what?" Parvati pressed.

"None of your business," she said with a playful face and dug into a bowl of soup. However, she could feel George's eyes watching her. George couldn't take his eyes off of her for some reason. To him, she seemed like the most beautiful girl in all of Hogwarts even if she felt like she was the most ordinary person. He joked with her throughout dinner, immediately brightening her spirits.

After they finished their meal and had some small talk, they went upstairs to the Gryffindor common room and stayed there for a bit. Ginny and Euphemia played wizard's chess for a little while and then sat by the fire and didn't really do anything but stare at it. Euphemia flicked her tongue over the leaf on the top of her mouth. It still felt quite strange to her, but it was beginning to feel more natural.

"Tempus," She looked at her hand and saw that it was 10:30. "We should get going to bed. It's late." Ginny nodded and they stood up. She placed her hand in front of the other girl and offered to help her up. She took it and pulled her up.

She walked up to the dorm room and walked over to her bed and pulled her pajamas out of the trunk in front of her bed. She walked over to the bathroom as quietly as possible and opened the door. She pulled on her clothes and looked into the mirror.

She placed her wand over her heart and began to speak. "Animo Amato animato animagus," A small white flash hit her heart and then diminished. She walked over to the door and opened it. Euphemia, again, quietly walked over to her bed and laid down.

"Goodnight, Effie." Parvati and Hermione spoke quietly.

"Goodnight," she replied as she stared at the intricately detailed tapestry above her bed until she fell asleep.


End file.
